A minimum level of trust is one of the basic criteria for a well-functioning community -- lack of trust can potentially undo business deals, make child rearing more difficult, and chip away at people's sense of safety. So it may be worrisome that according to a large Â鶹´«Ã½AV Panel study* conducted this summer, relatively few respondents place a lot of trust in specific community groups.
Trust Makes Good Neighbors?
Just slightly more than a third of respondents say they have "a lot" of trust in the people in their neighborhoods. Another 49% have "some trust" in their neighbors, while 13% have just a little and 3% don't trust their neighbors at all.
Responses to a general trust question differed between white panel members and black panel members, with whites more likely to express trust than blacks (see "Â鶹´«Ã½AV Panel: People Can't Be Trusted" in Related Items). Thirty-seven percent of whites say they trust their neighbors a lot, and only 13% of blacks say the same.
Police Get High Marks Overall, Low Marks From Blacks
Overall, trust in the police is highest of the three community-based groups tested. Forty-four percent of respondents say they have a lot of trust in their local police, another 43% have some trust, and just 13% say they have little (10%) or no (3%) trust in local law enforcement.
Again, there is a large gap between black respondents and white respondents with regard to trust in the local police. Forty-six percent of white respondents trust their local police a lot, while 19% of black respondents say so.
Trust in Local Retailers
Just one in five respondents (21%) say they have a lot of trust in the people who work in the stores where they shop -- the lowest figure among the three community groups tested. Fifty-seven percent say they have some trust, 19% have little trust, and 3% have no trust.
Shopkeepers are sometimes accused of locking blacks out of their stores or following them around as they shop. This may partially explain the reason for a lack of trust in storekeepers and clerks among blacks. Twelve percent of black respondents say they trust people in their local stores a lot, compared with 21% of white respondents.
*These results are based on mail and Web surveys with a randomly selected national sample of 11,849 adults in the Â鶹´«Ã½AV Poll Panel of households, aged 18 and older, conducted June 21, 2005, to Aug. 3, 2005. For results based on this sample, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum error attributable to sampling and other random effects is ±1 percentage point. In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.
